M*A*S*H Set in Back Yard

[scottyrocks]

The show was set in Korea, though (at least for the first few years) it coincided with the ongoing conflict in Vietnam, and often drew obvious parallels.

Alda's character, more than once, referred to them being there as a result of a 'police action,' a term used to describe Vietnam. I don't know if that term had been used during the 1950s to describe the Korean War, or if M*A*S*H hijacked and used it retroactively.

 

[Edward]

Yes, the boots are certainly wrong as I have my father's boots right here and they are brown.

I imagine there are plenty of inaccuracies here and there. Average audience simply cared much less about that sort of thing back then, it seems... not that I think they much do now either. [huh] I think I also read that the fatigues they were seen in from the off (1950) didn't come in until.... 51/52?

I can also tell you that my father HATED the show because it was nothing like his experience there---at all. In fact, he said that if 90% of that stuff happened in his military---the people who have been court martialed and/or dishonorably discharged. Klinger was a HUGE point of contention.

Ha, I can imagine.

Alan Alda's hippie hair would have never passed either.

The accurate haircut thing is something nobody seems to have much bothered with until more recent years. I did often wonder, though, whether they deliberately let a few details like that go as a deliberate distinction between civilian draftees like Hawkeye who wanted no part in the war, and those who were either professional military or at least embraced that world with relish and fervour.

Richard Hooker who wrote the novel that the movie was based on hated the TV series.

So I believe. Personally I still find the TV shoe far superior to the film, but I can't comment on the book never having read it. Interestingly, they were already considering a TV show when the film was made. I don't think they could have gotten away with something on tv that was the same as the film in tone. I do feel, though, that the TV had many and greater strengths. Hawkeye not being married in the TV show was probably a "cleaning up", but actually over time it served the character far better, allowing his lonely and pathetic side to be explored.

Alda's character, more than once, referred to them being there as a result of a 'police action,' a term used to describe Vietnam. I don't know if that term had been used during the 1950s to describe the Korean War, or if M*A*S*H hijacked and used it retroactively.

I don't claim any expertise in that period of military history, but it was the lack of democratic elections in the North in 1948 that created the premise for the UN to give its blessing to what was essentially a proxy war. My understanding is that "police action" is a military euphemism for a war that has not been formally declared, which would cover both Korea and Vietnam, if memory serves.

 

[fortworthgal]

Wow, I guess that guy really, REALLY likes M*A*S*H. :lol:

 

[Edward]

Good a place as any to ask.... does anyone have the details of the recording of My Blue Heaven that gets used on the show a lot, just in little snatches? It is most noticeable as the record playing in the background at the very start of the pilot episode, as the "Korea 1950" legend appears over the top of the golf tee. Unless I'm gonig mad, it sounds to be sung in Japanese?

 

[Jedburgh OSS]

This was located at 3442 Lila Drive in Orlando, Florida. The owner was David Dilday (don't go there) who sold it to Bill Smith of Sunrise Beach, Missouri who then donated it to the Kansas National Guard Museum, and it's now on display at Forbes Field in Topeka. Some images of Bingmaps bird's eye views still show it in Dilday's backyard. The aerial/overhead views on Bingmaps and Googlemaps no longer show it.

 

[ButteMT61]

Loved that show. Bought the box set and watch with my son. It's very witty, sad, and I don't watch for the accuracy - which I doubt was the drive behind it. The cast(s) were superb and it holds up today. Santa Monica mountains were Korea for a while. That's kinda wild. I'd love a quality show like that today.